Converging streams
by t3h maniac
Summary: Two worlds, the same name. 3 from one go to the other. Will they have any effect or just be swept along? FFVII IX crossover
1. Chapter 1

**Converging streams**

**Disclaimer: I hereby declare that I do not own the rights to anything FF related except my fan fiction plots.**

**Summary: Two similar worlds, same name but completely different. FFIX and FFVII cross-over. Rated T for language use.**

**---**

Lifestream. The blood of all planets.

The true path of souls, the cycle of spirit energy.

It's everywhere.

From the flowers springing into bloom, the babies brought into the world, to the wilting plants and the end of human life. From the cradle to the grave.

The 'living' planets are all similar in that respect, all with life stream coursing through its veins, all with plant and animal life.

Some have more in common than people like to admit.

Let us take into consideration these two planets here, both have the same name, Gaia.

Both have had their life stream drained, one by an external threat, one by the life on the planet itself. Both have used the by-products of this to advance in technologies and fuel a new age.

The age of Mist and the age of Mako.

Both at some point had a major threat, one that could destroy the planet entirely, and have called upon a band of heroes to defend it, whether the planet actually did that feat or whether the life took maters into its own hands is superfluous to this story.

However, evidence of the wounds still remain, whether it be in the dry plains of the forgotten and outer continent or the dead zone surrounding Midgar, the freezing cold of the northern continents also adds to this effect.

The wounds still show, the heroes live on, the life stream flows.

It is easy to assume that the heroes will no longer be needed or would cause no effect elsewhere having served their purpose. How wrong that assumption is.

For this we will take these identical worlds and transfer a few of these heroes, from a world where the crisis has past to the world before crisis but one that will face many in the coming years.

What will happen? Well I wouldn't be the wizard who did it if I thought about the consequences of such an action would I?

---

Too early.

"Wake up!"

Still too early, come back later.

"Zidane, wake up!"

Keep your pants on queenie, I'll be up in a minute.

Cold? Why do I feel cold? Its like there is an ice goddess freezing my nuts off.

Oh fuck!

"I'm awake!" I should bolting upright to find Dagger placing ice cubes on me.

"Finally" She sighs, a beautiful sight, but one that means she want to talk about serious things. I hate Mondays.

Wait a minute, this isn't the palace room! It seems like some sort of ruined church. How drunk did I get last night? And what is with these flowers?

"Your highness, I don't think he remembers what has happened." Beatrix? Oh no, please don't tell me I did a Cid. I don't want to be a bug for 7 months!

Calm down Ziddy, you're fully clothed, so are they. Nothing risqué could have happened.

Or did it?

Damn, now I got the mental image of a threesome with Dagger and Beatrix lodged in my head!

Although that's not a bad mental image.

Uh note to Zidane, there is your lover with ice cubes and the ability to summon something much colder, if much scantier, onto your crotch in the immediate area along with her general who would probably cut my head off for thinking such things. This is not the time for M rated images!

Damn I never knew Beatrix was into the rough stuff, but its just a dream, but what if its not? Maybe it's a vision from the future...

"Where do you think he goes when he zones out like that?" Dagger asked Beatrix, okay time to snap out of this Zidane.

"Where are we?" I ask.

"I'm not sure, the building is run down and the surrounding area looks so… alien. We seem to be in some sort of slums, unseen technology." Beatrix responded shrugging her shoulders. Well at least I'm not the only one out of the full loop.

"Different world" I mused.

"Like Terra?" Dagger asked, mmm, such a sweet voice, maybe I could… Wait, Beatrix is watching us, shit.

"Could be." What else could I say?

"Excuse me." Another voice, another girl. Wow, teenage with a pink dress with a ribbon in her long brown hair, beautiful. Crap, now I have the image of a foursome in my head! There is only so much I can take here! "would you mind getting off the flowers? I think you may be crushing them."


	2. Chapter 2, off on the wrong foot

**Converging streams**

**Off on the wrong foot**

**Okay, I said this was discontinued earlier. However it was one of those moments when just as you resign yourself to defeat, victory is practically handed to you. That's right, I've been hit by INSPIRATION! Fear the all capitalized and bolded text! FEAR IT!**

**Right.**

**---**

To say being practically picked up from one world and dumped in the next was a bit much to handle was a dramatic understatement. It was mind-boggling to say the least.

Zidane, Garnet/Dagger and Beatrix were now in a city called Midgar. A suspended metal plate over top the slums they were now in. It was an eternal night when you could see the surface, much like Treno. There were a startling number of similarities between the two if you thought about it, the rich and powerful with the best properties on top with the backing of the controllers of this world, a business known as 'Shinra', while the poor were left to rot. It made Zidane fell uneasy thinking about it. Sure back in Alexandria he was one of the nobles, his association with queen Garnet assured him that and he would be a royal if he could actually work up the nerve to give her an engagement ring.

But still, he was originally a mere thief. One of the lower class and it didn't sit with him how they were supposedly treated.

Another thing was that everyone in this new and strange world was human, and the only one in the group who was fully human was Beatrix. And armour had gone out of fashion years ago apparently.

So they stuck out like sore thumbs.

This was all too much for one genome to handle so he did what numerous males do when faced with a stressful situation. Have a drink and see if the world makes more sense, if not, have another one.

He was by no means an alcoholic but he did like to drink. He met half the girls he ended up courting when slightly drunk, more often then not they were bartenders.

But anyway.

He had found that it was best to leave them at a girls house, the person who tended the flowers and who had explained a bit about the new world, had kindly allowed Beatrix and Dagger to stay at her house with her mother. She was really sweet and kind, it was the presence of Garnet and Beatrix that was preventing Zidane from trying to flirt with her at all.

However if he was going to get drunk he needed money, and he was going to get the only way he knew how, stealing it.

He had tried to give it up like some addiction but if there is a shortage of money, he couldn't help but relive the bad old days.

Fortunately by the time he found the nearest bar he realised that the monsters around here carried their own small reserve of cash, a few hedgehog pies felled by his daggers later and he reach the bar.

There was a spare stool at the counter next to a trio of miss-matched people. One of them was wearing a navy blue suit, contrasted by the shockingly bright red hair in a ponytail but still slightly spiked, the second was dressed in purple, a black nest of spikes for hair and a six foot long giant sword. _I remember another guy with spiky hair who used something like that, could it be? Nah. _Zidane thought to himself, shaking his head.

The third person in the rag-tag group had an appearance that momentarily stunned the flirtatious monkey-man. First of all was the long silver hair, slightly similar to Kuja's, was dressed completely in black leather, a thought that made Zidane shudder, and most noticeably, carried a 7 foot katana on his back.

_Are those two guys overcompensating for something or what?_

He jumped up on the barstool, looked at the group and asked "Who's buying?"

"Umm…" The Red-head slurred "Ish it me?"

"Yeah, I think it is Reno." The man with the black spikes replied.

"Thanks Zack, right so a shot of whiskey, one martini and a rum and coke. What you having kid?" The person called Reno asked.

"I'll just have a pint of beer." Zidane said.

"Got I.D kid?" The barman asked, not really paying attention, apart from Zidane he was the only sober person in the building and would be the only one to have noticed the tail, if he was looking anyway.

"Damn, guess not," Zidane conceded

"Aw come on man, you've been serving me here since I was 14." Reno pleaded, although Zack was good company he could have done with an extra drinking buddy.

"No its cool, I just got to go back at get some identification." Zidane said backing off and passing behind the three. "See ya."

After the blonde teenager left Reno went to pay for the drinks reaching into his back pocket he found… "Hey Zack, my wallets missing."

The block-spiked man known as Zack started to check where his was "shit, mine's gone to, how about you Sephiroth?"

The Silver haired man stirred to check his pockets "Stolen." Growled Sephiroth.

They all reached the same conclusion in about two minutes and turned towards the door.

"Son of a…"

---

**Its done! What do you think?**


	3. Chapter 3, not so random encounters

**Converging Streams 3**

**Not-so-Random Encounters **

**A/N: Yay for quick barrage of updates! Woo! Anyway this chapter will have a fight involving Zidane, Sephiroth, Zack & Reno. Poor Ziddy is in way over his head now.**

**---**

Zidane reduced his speed to that of a casual stroll as soon as he got out of sight of the bar, he still hadn't lost his touch and he had three freshly picked wallets to prove it. He looked inside to see what was there, he found a large wad of the currency which was also called gil but had a different set of coins.

Also there was in each one an identification card, holding the details of the people he just robbed including their profession. It seemed this city liked to keep close tabs on everyone and everything. The first wallet contained the guy in the blue suit pulling a stupid face which made Zidane chuckle, it said he was a level 4 Turk, whatever that meant. The next person was the man named Zack, he had is sword with him in the picture strapped to his back. It said he was SOLDIER first class. Aeris had said something about them, wasn't one of them her boyfriend?

It didn't matter that much to Zidane though, except if Dagger forced him to give them back _,which she probably might._ he thought, she was pretty persuasive to make him give up thieving in the first place.

"Hope those guys had insurance." He said out loud.

"And I hope you have life insurance." Came a cold reply from the shadows. The three men who Zidane had just robbed stepped out with a not-best-pleased expression on there faces.

"Heeey! How you doing?" Zidane said nervously, backing away from the two men with swords and the red-head with a…something which crackled with electricity as he twisted a dial on it anyway.

"Fine, if it weren't for the fact that you stole from us." The man in the black coat said.

"Gotta give you some credit. Not many people would have the balls to even _try_ and pull a fast one on any of us, let alone all three together." Zack said drawing his buster sword.

"So why don't I just give it back and we forget this ever happened…" Zidane said secretly drawing his daggers, wishing he had ultima weapon on him right now. A few soul blade uses out of that and all three of them would be out of it. Too bad his thief blades were something difficult to conceal when trying to remain incognito. However he did still have a few tricks up his sleeve, he just needed to find who was the weak link in the chain…

"Not an option." Sephiroth said taking out Masamune and lunging directly at the thief. Zidane dodged it by inches, ducking under the blow tried a quick jab to the gut before rolling out the way when it failed.

Zack was next to try, he jumped in the air, trying to bring his hefty sword directly onto the blond but it was dodged easily this time. The thief moved about the same speed Sephiroth could manage on his best day.

Reno was last, he was still slightly drunk however and his clumsy strike missed by a considerable distance, almost striking Sephiroth as he tried to understand the situation they were in.

"Watch it you incompetent drunk!" the general bellowed, they were potentially in a bit more trouble than initially thought. He knew he had to be skilled to pick pocket them without noticing until it was time to pay for drinks but he was also faster than most first class members, potentially even faster than him if he could dodge his strikes. And he had a tail for some reason.

"Annoy" Zidane said quietly as a small white light hit Reno, he staggered back, expecting there to be some degree of pain but there was none, a distraction.

"Pffffft. That all you got monkey boy?" Reno taunted failing to see that Zidane now had a Dagger in each had and was just about to strike him. It was a serious cut to the left arm that caused Reno to cry out in pain. Consequently, this also caused a wince from both Zack and Sephiroth as though they had suffered the same blow.

"What the hell?" Shouted Zack grasping his left arm as Reno was doing. Rummaging around his pockets for a cure materia he found that he hadn't brought any with him and Reno was in real trouble.

"Cure!" Sephiroth casted on Reno, his open wound slowly shrinking in size leaving scarred tissue where it was.

"Thanks man!" Reno said, trying to keep his eye on the game when he heard a rumbling "What now?"

A Hell House, they populated sector six and were the strongest monsters in that area, and this one was bigger than most. It was all they needed. Zack quickly turned his attention to it, hacking away at its outer shell.

"Zack, keep you eye on the thief! Forget about the monster!"

"Hey, I'd rather loose my money than be eaten by one of those things Seph!" He shouted back to the general.

Sephiroth cursed silently, Zack was right. The Hell House was more aggressive than usual, sending shockwaves at the three of them, Reno was injured and whatever spell the blonde monkey had casted on him it meant that if he got hit bad. They all felt the pain.

The monster roared, shaking the piles of debris. Zidane had also turned his attention to it "What the hell is that thing?"

"A Hell House." Sephiroth replied. "a monster, and it seems you have lucked out for now. After we deal with this you're next." He said coldly before slicing the monster. It let out a wail of pain but did not fall down, only it seemed to get more angry.

"What's That?!" Zidane shouted, on cue, behind the monster a bright flash appeared. Distracting it. Zack and Sephiroth launched a dual attack on the monster. Felling it.

"And now for… where'd he go?" Zack asked, turning around to see a spot of air that used to be the thief's position.

"Not sure, make a note to keep an eye out for him. Reno, see if the Turks can track him. Anyone who can take on the three of us and lives to tell the tale is worth watching out for." Sephiroth told the other two. Somehow, he knew that he hadn't seen the last of him.

---

**What do you reckon. Oh, if any Sephiroth fanatics complain that I made him underpowered can I just point out that although he was a lot stronger than Zack at this point, he's still mostly human at this point.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Converging Streams 4**

**I am alive! And so is this story.**

**---**

To say that General Sephiroth was angry would be a dramatic understatement. To say that he had turned more homicidal than normal and had started randomly setting things on fire wouldn't fully describe just how pissed off he was.

Sephiroth was so angry that he had become _calm_. A dangerous sort of calm that if anyone disturbed they would find themselves in 16 parts, or singed to a crisp.

So it was a really bad idea to get the train back to the barracks with Reno and Zack after his run in with the thief who had managed to wound a Turk and dodge all of their attacks.

"How are we going to explain this?" Reno asked.

"Hey don't drag me down with this. My boss was witness, I don't have to explain anything."

"He might." Reno gestured towards the silver-haired man.

"To who?"

"Hojo, he'll want know about this." Both the Soldier and the Turk shuddered at the scientists name. The man was universally hated by everyone in the company due to his disturbing experiments, but hadn't been killed yet due to the fact he was an executive and therefore his death required a load of paperwork.

The three sat in silence for a while until the lights started to flash red. Indicating that they were going through a security checkpoint. It was designed to identify who was on the train at the time and catch anyone without I.D who could possibly be members of a insurgence organization.

It just happened to be that since the three had been robbed of their I.D by a blonde thief that the alarms started to go off.

"**Warning. Warning. Unidentified passengers in carriage D. The train will be locked down in 30 seconds." **

A vein pulsed on Sephiroth's forehead.

"Seph? You okay?" Zack asked, the general stood up and started to remove his sword from its sheath.

50 seconds later the train was destroyed in a ball of flame. Nobody was killed and Sephiroth decided to walk to work.

But I digress.

---

The whole change in location (and world) scenario wasn't only a little too much to take in for Zidane. It was also getting to Beatrix and Garnet as well.

The young queen of Alexandria was trying to hold back the tears, all of her friends; Eiko, Freya, Stiener, Amarant, Quina, Vivi. There was a strong chance she'd never get to see any of them again. Beatrix was trying to console her but the General was upset as well.

Aeris had graciously offered them a place to stay, not that it was helping Garnet much. The flowers just reminded her of the busy Alexandrian square.

And Zidane wasn't with her. He'd only gone out to clear his mind but she did need him here, with her.

The door to her room opened as Aeris' mother came in offering them both something to eat and drink but she just huddled into ball.

_Zidane? Where are you?_

A solitary tear hit the floor. She just wished that it was all a dream and would go away soon, but there was no such luck. Her mind ran through all the possibilities of what could of happened to him but she shook them from her head. He had survived the destruction of planets, the wrath of the Iifa tree and countless monsters. Surely nothing in this world could pose a threat to him?

"Beatrix?" She spoke out.

"Yes your majesty?" Beatrix answered.

"Find Zidane. Please."

"At once." She looked back towards Garnet, she hated to see her like this and if that monkey wasn't in grave danger he would have to answer to the both of them.

The search did not take long despite the alarming number of monsters in the area. The seemed to breed like rabbits here and although they all fell one by one to her sword, the sheer volume of hedgehog pie-esque creatures could have been a cause of the thief's prolonged absence.

Zidane was dashing down the ruined street towards her, dodging and slashing his way past the monsters. He noticed Beatrix standing there with a non-to-pleased expression and quickly stopped in his tracks.

"Oh, hey Beatrix. You okay?" He asked nervously.

"The Queen is worried about you." She said coolly.

"Really? I didn't mean to make her upset about anything I just ran into some trouble with some locals…"

"Save your explanation for when we get back. I just hope for both your sake and hers she hasn't completely broken down by the time we get back."

"I'm in big trouble aren't I?"

"With me, yes you are. With her, I'm not sure."

"Great," He said dejectantly "Would it help my case at all if the people I got into a bit of trouble with had really large swords?"

---

"ZIDANE!" Garnet shouted as the two entered the door, the young queen rushed towards her lover not unlike she did when he came back after the Iifa tree incident and into his arms.

"Dagger, I'm sorry I was gone so long, I didn't mean to make you worry." Garnet thumped his arm in response.

"Please don't do it again, I need you now. I need you to be with me." Beatrix made a signal to Aeris that it would be best to leave the two love birds to their own devices for now.

---

In the Shinra laboratories a security recording of the fight between Sephiroth, Zack, Reno and Zidane was being played over. Hojo took a step back.

"So, my prize experiment, my own son has been bested hmm?" He looked at the tapes again, zooming in to get a better look at the blonde haired boy. _A tail? _He thought to himself. It appeared that the teenage boy was not human. " So by moving away from human genetics could make something stronger than any soldier. I shall have to test that theorem."

He also noticed something different about Sephiroth's movements, they were slower than normal. The three were not completely sober, Hojo shook his head. No wonder the monkey boy had a seemingly easy time with the two others. Reaching for the intercom he quickly found the one linking to the Turk office.

"Tseng, this is Hojo. I need you to drop the Ancient surveillance. I have a new specimen for you lot to track and capture for me."

---

**Dun-Dun-Dun!**

**Review please.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Converging Streams 5**

**Its been a very long time since I've touched this story. About two months ago was the last chapter and I'm still not too happy with it. Hopefully this chapter will be a bitbetter quality.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**---**

"Impressive."

"I'm glad you think so Tseng, because what I have lined up for you involves him."

"What do you mean?" Replied the head Turk, his voice drained of all emotion.

"It seems the labs are running slow with your department's incompetence with the Ancient. However, a new specimen may be the revitalising boost I need to get the department back in shape. My current research can only go so far and with this… this boy's performance I can honestly say my interest has been piqued."

"You want me to capture him don't you." It wasn't a question, more an acknowledgement.

"What do you think you're being funded for? Of course you're supposed to bring him in to the building. Alive preferably, but if its not decaying dead will do just fine." The mad scientist said, waving for the Turk to leave him alone. He had more work to do on harnessing the Jenova cells.

"With all do respect professor Hojo… if I may make one point clear?"

"Hm?"

"How exactly do you think we should be able to capture him, there are very few of the Turks who have gone through the mako exposure process left. Reno being one of them, Rude being another example. This so called boy was able to hold his own against him and two of our best 1st class SOLDIERS." Tseng said coolly.

"You're point is?" Tseng sighed, for someone who was supposed to be the intellectual of all the executives Hojo was sometimes not the brightest person in the world. Contradictory to his opinion.

"My point professor, is that it will be nigh on impossible to capture him by force. Although I will admit from the video that the three weren't at there best, the blond was merely trying for a getaway, not actually fighting them. He's definitely holding something back."

"All the more reason to capture him! I thought Turks were supposed to be intelligent killers, not mindless thugs. Think of something!" Hojo snapped, Tseng held back a disgusted gesture, he normally couldn't stand to be around Hojo. He disliked scientists in general. If there ever was a room with one scientist in and a button with a label in big red paint letters that said 'Do not push. End of the world' the paint wouldn't have time to dry.

"I understand. Would you like the Ancient as well if possible?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Hojo asked, not turning his head away from the monitor. 

"If we were to go after both, we run the risk of spreading our recourses too thinly."

"Ugh, fine. Pull all surveillance, or whatever you have, away from the Gast child and focus on bringing me that boy."

---

"I…I can't believe you would resort back to this again Zidane!" Dagger said, quietly. Staring at the wallets Zidane held in his hand.

"Hey its not like I had a choice in the matter here."

"There was always a choice." She said sternly.

"Look, we're on a strange world here. We have to do something to keep us going here. Or at least something to pay back Aeris for letting us stay here." Zidane reasoned, trying not to let this turn into a shouting match.

"That's just it! We do not know how this place treats thieves. What if they treat it as an automatic death penalty. I couldn't…" Dagger broke down, slinging her arms around him and sobbing into his chest.

"Dagger… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you worry so much."

"You… you thought I didn't care?"

"I know you care, you always have cared about me. And I've always cared about you."

"…" She didn't say anything, she just squeezed the genome, trying to rub the remnant of her tears off on his waistcoat.

"Okay Dagger, you can let go now. Dags? Queen Garnet? Your highness? You're crushing my back now."

"I don't want to let you go." She whispered, holding him tighter.

"I understand, but can you just ease up a little bit then, I still want to be able to move tomorrow." He said in a somewhat joking manner, the grin on his face trying to cheer the young Queen.

"Oh I'm so sorry Zidane! I didn't mean to!" Dagger shouted, preparing to cast a cure spell.

"Its okay Dagger. I was just joking." Zidane said, a smile on his face, brushing away some strands of hair from the face of his Dagger, his love.

---

Unknown to any of them, outside the Gainsborough house a man in a navy blue suit watched from the shadows. He was well over 6 feet tall, dark skinned with a shaven head. He held in one hand a pair of Shinra issue scouter lens, a pair of binoculars with the ability to analyse any human activity and identify them with assistance from the main Turk database. He set down the scouter and reached into his left jacket pocket to retrieve a small black cell phone.

"Hello Tseng."

"Rude, I need you to stop the surveillance on the Ancient, apparently Hojo wants something different for a plaything."

"Understood. Should I scan for him, or her, or it now?"

"Affirmative. I'll be uploading the basic image our security cameras in sector 5 picked up onto the scouter, there is a chance he may still be in the vicinity." The monotone voice on the other send said. Picking up the binoculars he saw the image of a teenage boy, approximately 17, blonde and with what seems to be a tail.

"…"

"What is it Rude?"

"Is that tail supposed to be there?"

"I'm afraid it is. Approach him with extreme caution. Do not engage the target immediately. We need more information."

"…" Rude scanned between the still image, and what the scouter was recording. "Tseng, target acquired."

---

**That was difficult to do. Very dialogue heavy I know but hopefully there should be some action next chapter. Review please.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Converging Streams**

**Chapter 6**

**I know its been a long time since I updated this fic so this chapter has been well overdue. Enjoy. Oh I've also been contemplating whether or not to move this fic to a different section. Since I seem to be writing more FFVII than IX, tell me your opinions on this in your reviews.**

**Standard disclaimer applies.**

**--**

If there was one part of the job Reno loved, it was not doing it. Or at least pretending to be doing work when actually not.

Being an assassin for Shinra is one of the worst jobs. Sure the suits do rock, and the pay is good but its not for normal people. Once you enter you can't leave, no matter how insane it sends you.

_Damn, now I've got "Hotel Sector 7" stuck in my head. _Reno thought to himself, flicking on his MP3 player to try and find a song to scratch it from his mind before it spreads like wildfire and never gets out.

"Reno, report to my office, now." Tseng's voice crackled over the intercom. Blunt and to the point. Unmistakably Tseng.

"Sure thing boss-man." He said, Tseng's office was not much different from the other Turk, but there was a few key differences. One was that it could only be opened from inside or with a key card reserved for the head of the Turks and his superiors. That and the fingerprint scanner on the filling cabinet and the trap door which leads to god-knows where in front of the desk. It was suspected that it didn't work but no-one was willing to test the theory.

"So what'd I do this time?"

"Its not about what you did Reno," _for once_ Tseng added mentally "It's about who did that to you."

"What about him, other than payback?"

"Hojo wants us to bring him in, you are going to assist in this."

"How? I got my arm in a cast here." Reno pointed out, practically waving it before having to wince from the pain, it still hurt to move it much.

"The girl, use her for leverage. Although she may have powers comprisable to this, monkey boy, she shouldn't put up much of a resistance with a little persuasion." The leader of the Turk said, showing no emotion passing Reno the latest image sent from Rude. Zidane and Dagger sharing an embrace.

"…"

"What's wrong Reno."

"I just don't know…"

"If its about the method, you know that it was possible to deal with this when you joined."

"yeah yeah, wait. Is that tail supposed to be there? I didn't notice a tail."

"With the amount of alcohol you consume on your drinking nights, you wouldn't notice if a meteor was about to strike the planet."

"So when do I start?"

"Operation lion-tamer begins when Rude finishes complete surveillance on the target and the best possible plan is realised."

"Affirmative. So that's a no on drinks night?"

"Just do your job Reno."

It was how Reno did his job, he used humour to detract from the seriousness of situations. Soften the blow. But still, he had a job to do. All there was left was to wait.

--

**Yes this chapter is filler, I'm not going to deny it. I really drained of this moment and I thought I might try and give an insight into the Turks mind at a time like this. Because anyone who kills for a living has to be messed up in the head.**

**And "Hotel Sector 7" is a parody of "Hotel California". So now I won't be asked what the hell that song is however many times.**


	7. Chapter 7, enter the Turks

**Enter The Turks**

**No people, I can assure you that you are not seeing things here. This fic has been updated by my new co-author in this, Mystic Spiritus. (cheers from the audience)**

**Mystic: How long have they been here?**

**Me: Not sure, they came with the studio.**

--

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! Not even this story. I'm helping out Maniac cuz I'm totally cool like that. **

--

There was only one surefire way to get a girl to forget about her troubles. Sure, most females might act like it just stresses them out further, but Zidane knew the truth. Garnet proved that well-enough after he returned from the Iifa Tree and revealed his true identity in the Alexandrian outdoor theatre. After his Dagger glomped him in a big bear hug, she forcefully dragged him to her chambers. It wasn't that forced when the thief realized where she was taking him, but he was certainly thrilled about her intentions. Dagger only did what every woman in her right mind would when stress relief was necessary.

She fucked his brains out.

Needless to say, her years of conditioning to ensure she kept both feet on the ground was swiftly swept to a horizontal position. They made love throughout the night and Zidane acquired more battle scars from his former captive than from the last battle with Kuja.

Who knew Garnet contained a wild side?

The young queen of Alexandria suffered even greater stress and worry now that she, her lover, and her general were now trapped in this strange, futuristic world. Beatrix guarded the two, as was her job, but considering how stressed and nervous Garnet was, she decided to leaved her queen alone with Zidane for the time being. The two lovers jumped on top of one the rooftops of the city and were … well, let's just say that Beatrix really wanted to be with Steiner at the moment.

Zidane's hand had slipped inside the front of Dagger's blouse, eliciting an excited moan from her warm mouth. His body lay half on the shingled roof and half on the woman beneath him. Her hands smoothed throughout his sand-colored hair, bringing him closer to her, desperate to feel the release only he could give her.

"Zidane," she moaned. "Oh, Zidane …"

"Aw shit. I hate going after a guy who's getting lucky."

Garnet and Zidane tore their lips from each other and glanced down to the ground below, the monarch readjusting her blouse in the process. The tailed thief sighed in frustration as he recognized the redhead almost immediately. "Reno," he mouthed.

Although, he wasn't quite sure who the bald guy was. All Zidane knew was that he looked big. And scary.

Garnet looked down at the two men in dark suits, then back at her lover. "What's going on?" she asked, her eyes large with fear. Was that a hint of sexual frustration there too?

"Dude, you gotta cute babe there," Reno yelled up. "Come with us like a good boy and we'll keep her safe."

"For now," added the bald one.

A sharp blade found it's point at the redhead's throat. "You won't touch the queen or her consort."

A crimson eyebrow raised when he followed the blade to the person yielding it. A chick with a sword?

_Sweet …_

--

**Mystic: Talk about bad timing too. To be honest, I feel bad for Garnet. Getting interrupted from killers after your man. That's gotta suck! Review!**


	8. Chapter 8, still more fighting

**Still More Fighting**

**Right, since its not fair for Mystic to do all the work for this fic since she became co-author, I decided to get my rear in gear and actually make a new chapter for this crossover. And yes, I know I made a rhyme there.**

**Disclaimer: All characters included belong to Square Enix… for now.**

**--**

"Well hey there babe, what's a chick like you doing in a place like this?" Reno asked, trying to get a better look at Beatrix's whole outfit, it seemed pretty out of place, when was the last time plate armour was used outside of Wutai's troops. That and it showed off quite an impressive cleavage "fantasy convention in town or something?"

"What do you want me for Reno? If this is about the money I stole…"

"What?! You stole from them?!" Dagger shouted.

"Uh oh." Zidane stiffened, the situation had gone from bad to worse, now he knew Dagger was giving him her trademark 'about to start lecturing you for this' look.

"Hey Rude, looks like someone's pretty whipped here." Reno sniggered

"Leave this place. Now." Beatrix commanded, a voice that would have normally spread fear into the hearts of any person unfortunate enough to hear it didn't even phase the two dark-suited assassins.

"No can do sister, we got orders, and we gotta follow them through." Reno was slowly drawing his EMR out while talking, keeping them all distracted. The blade was beginning to scrape a little on his throat, that needed to be solved…now. He quickly bend backwards so Save The Queen passed overhead, now without the resistance of his neck to hold it back, and lunged at Beatrix with the EMR, set to stun for once.

Beatrix saw the motion and anticipated it, sidestepping to dodge the thrust and putting her and Reno side by side. They simultaneously turned, clashing weapons. "Hey Rude! Get the monkey! I got this covered." He said confidently, not expecting for the deadlock to be broken by his opponent shoving him back, however there was no attempt to press home the advantage, it seems she was waiting for him to make the next move.

As if he needed an invitation.

The Turk charged at the paladin but was parried away, leaving his back exposed. Beatrix began to charge energy at the pommel of the sword. Reno had just turned around to receive a shock attack to the face, sending him flying into a pile of junk that seems to make up most of the slum sector's walls.

Rude was having a different sort of trouble with Zidane. The thief was definitely fast. Very fast, it was a very difficult job just to keep one eye on him when he started to move at speed. Any attempt to grab him was evaded with ease and all the martial arts training in the world doesn't help if you can't actually hit the person you're fighting.

Still if your not being hit yourself its not too bad. But he wasn't even attacking which was odd, in a clash between a dagger and a fist someone usually ends up missing a hand. Zidane just kept dodging the blows.

"_**thievery**_" Zidane whispered, energy pulsated in the twin Orihalcon daggers. It was said to be the ultimate skill for a thief to learn and that very few people had mastered it. It drew power from the experience of the thief, how many items had been stole, scavenged or dug out of the ground. No-one was quite sure how it worked but the thing that was unanimous was that it _bloody well hurt_.

"Shut up." Rude grumbled, picking himself off the ground.

"Hey, I didn't say anything." Reno said defensively as the both went after the other person this time.

Rude tried to disarm Beatrix by grabbing the pommel of the sword and attempting to wrench it out of her grasp, he didn't like to hit women and Tseng had said before that his chivalrous streak may ultimately lead to his demise in a combat situation. He wasn't taking any cheap shots like Reno would have done, but with the way he got blasted back he suspected that cheap tricks to get the upper hand wouldn't work, she looked as though she had many years of experience and had seen every trick in the book.

Beatrix was trying to gauge the bald mans strength in the deadlock, it was apparent that on brute strength alone, hand to hand, he would win. It was a good thing she wasn't planning to. Electricity crackled through the blade not unlike the tip of Reno's EMR on one of the higher settings. She jerked the pommel towards her causing the sword to pivot and the flat side of the blade to connect with Rude's head causing all of the volts to send his body into a spasm, realising control of the blade and sinking to the floor, not unconscious but very shaky. It was going to be difficult to come back from that.

_Okay so maybe this whole, switching of dance partners ideas wasn't that good._ Reno thought to himself, he wasn't faring much better against Zidane then when he was drunk, and then all he wanted was a quick get away and hide behind a corner. This time he seemed to be determined to fight him off and the cuts in the Turks skin were beginning to rack up faster than he could cure them. It was time for a different approach, he backed away from the Genome and jumped up onto the roof, if fighting wasn't going to work he'd have to bargain, and for that he needed leverage…

"Get of me you scumbag!" Dagger shouted squirming in the Turks grasp.

"Not a chance."

"Let. Her. Go." Zidane commanded, it was almost a growl. His grip on the daggers tightening.

"Only if you come peacefully with us, seem like a fair deal, cuz if not…"

"I said, let her go!"

"Say please."

Zidane's eyes burnt with intensity he felt himself drifting of into his trance form, he could feel it, and something else… a different sort of power, one very familiar. Dagger was about to summon an Eidolon.

"Hey…what are trying to pull here?" Reno asked Dagger who had stopped struggling and who's eyes were starting to glow brightly. Then she disappeared in his arms, along with Rude, Zidane, Beatrix and the rest of sector 5. "The hell?"

He found himself on what seemed to be a floating rock in the middle of no-where surrounded by a tornado. All alone, apart from the giant dragon pretty close to him.

_She can cast summon spells? Aw crap._

--

**Ah finally done, that bit on the end was from Crisis Core and how they handled the summons, pulling the target into another dimension. Mystic, you're up next.**


	9. Chapter 9, Proposal

**Maniac: Mystics turn again. With a bit added from me, so she co-owns this chapter. As always, all characters belong to Square-Enix.**

**Mystic: I'm going to run away and hide now. If a certain friend of mine sees this, I fear that I might be a dead woman. Or, he might laugh. I hope and pray the latter, but until then, I'm going to crawl in a hole. Bye, bye. **

--

Note to self: Do not attempt to take a cute summoner hostage.

Extra note to self: No matter how cute said summoner is, if she possesses the ability to call forth a giant dragon that can rip your limbs off in a bloodied heap, then run far away fast in the other direction.

_Wait, cute? Whoa, I have to really stop myself before people start calling me a lolicon._

Suffice to say, Reno was undeniably screwed. Fa-la-la-la-la, he was screwed. Everyone's favourite carrot-topped assassin wasn't screwed in the very fun way that involved a cute girl and her open-minded, trusting best friend. No, Reno was screwed in a way that reminded him of a lonely, muscled dude that had been locked up in prison for far too long without female company. Frankly, Reno hated being the bitch in any relationship and he did not want to become the bitch of a giant dragon with sharp teeth.

He fired up his electro-magnetic rod, which in retrospect, wasn't very smart since the creature was the size of a freakin' supernova. Still, Reno was determined to hold his ground because he was a Turk and Turks don't go down without a kick butt fight. "Come on Mister Dragon," Reno teased. "Come get the stick."

Now if Bahamut was a normal dragon, this would have worked because most garden-variety dragons aren't to smart and would charge before taking the smarter option and using their flame breath. Perhaps years of burning everything before eating it makes the draconic mind to crave a rare steak every now and again. This action would have resulted in the dragon getting an EMR up its nose. Bahamut however, being the king of all dragons was a lot smarter than this.

Bahamut aimed a very malicious grin toward the fiery man, opened his large jaws, and blasted a round of blue flame. Reno barely had time to cower and cover his eyes before the attack struck his form.

Ow … this sucked.

_Why was it that the quiet girls were actually the most dangerous? _Reno wondered as his vision darkened.

When Dagger reappeared, Zidane immediately went to her, wrapping his former captive warmly in his arms. "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice a mix of anger and concern. Anger because that man with the red hair dared to lay hands on her and concern that she may have been harmed in the skirmish.

"I'm fine," she nodded. The young queen flashed him a smile before leaning deeper into him, taking in the comfort of his protection.

Reno lay passed out on the ground beside them, oblivious to their reconciliation. He came to only when Rude threw a phoenix down on his person. His head hurt like hell, and his body felt like someone had torn off all his limbs with a dirty chainsaw and sewn them back on with burlap twine. The needle they used was probably germ-infested and dull-tipped.

"Hey, partner," he drawled. "How about we run away fast in the other direction?"

"A tactical retreat?" Rude clarified.

"Yeah …"

"Agreed." Rude reached down to help his fellow Turk stand and let Reno rest against him. "We'll be back."

Reno gave a slow nod. "Right. Take care of the babe."

Beatrix watched with a stone glare as the men in blue hobbled off down the dark road. Sweat dripped down off her nose and onto the ground. They had given her and Zidane a tough fight, but it was a fight she would dance again if it meant the queen's safety. Feeling it was now safe, the female General looked back toward her liege and consort.

Garnet was resting her head on Zidane's shoulder, a smile of relief on both of their tired faces. The tailed thief finally leaned back slightly to stare at his love. "That was awesome, Dag'," he said with a grin. "Would you marry me?"

Beatrix let out a startled gasp. Garnet only giggled cutely. "You don't mean that, Zidane."

"Yes, I do." He planted a small peck on her smiling mouth. "I don't want to be just your concubine. When we get back home, marry me."

"Are you sure, Zidane. I'm a summoner and white mage."

"So? I'm a thief with a tail."

"Zidane, I practice yoga to keep my summons strong and body flexible."

He wasn't quite sure where she was going with this. "What's your point, Dagger? I want to marry you."

She smirked and kissed the tip of his nose. "I'd wear you out!"

"Is that a yes?" So, she was flexible. He'd be willing to be reduced to a puddle if it meant marrying the cutest girl he'd ever known.

"Zidane!" she giggled again. "Of course, I'll marry you!"

"Wahoo!" He wrapped his arms tightly around her slim waist and lifted her high in the air as they twirled around. Zidane manoeuvred his grip so he was holding her bridal-style, their laughter echoing into the night.

Beatrix wasn't so sure. She shook her brunette waves and closed her one eye. First, a powerful fight that ended in a summon and now, a proposal. Still, the queen was happy and that was what mattered, right?

She found herself quoting the phrase of her Steiner. Must she spend her whole life in servitude?

--

**Mystic: I'm gonna go hide now. Leave a kind review and I'll let Maniac handle the reviews. There's going to be lots, right? RIGHT??**

**Maniac ( additional): better give her what she wants. I'm not good at handling this kind of situation.**


	10. Chapter 10, Mission Report

**Mission Report**

**Oooh the Turks are in trouble now aren't they? After getting their collective rears handed to them, how are they going to explain this one to Tseng?**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.**

--

If there was one thing Reno hated more than failing a mission it would be explaining why aforementioned mission went to pot, Tseng was a had man to explain things to. It wasn't that he would be yelling at the duo for the good part of two hours it was that he would keep perfectly calm, and quiet, while leaving the two to stutter under a patented death glare.

The one that on a normal person could turn a perfectly fine suit into an impromptu bathroom. Or in other words, make them poop themselves. As if they weren't feeling bad enough… why did they have to get picked to be in Tseng's group of all people. Surely there were others that Turk's could be relayed too for missions.

"Enter." Came the monotone voice of Tseng, the one he uses when he's at his most dangerous. "Well?"

"It's kind of a funny story bossman, and by funny I mean painful. Seriously painful." Reno started of, keeping an ice pack on the back of his neck.

"He wasn't alone." Rude pointed out, not letting Reno dig himself further into a hole. ITs bad enough they both ended up in the infirmary.

"Not alone? He seemed to be alone the first time you shall we say; met."

"Well not this time…"

"Could you describe them?"

"What is this? A police interrogation?" Reno protested.

"No Reno. This is a in-formal mission report saving you a lot of paper work by telling me what exactly went wrong instead of having to write it yourself. You of course still owe 5 reports for ones that were successful and they take a lot less time and don't have to contain information on why you are not currently deceased, I could hazard a guess that this was because you made a full retreat to save your own skins. Now I for once am being generous to you despite this. Make the most of it."

"…"

"I'm waiting."

"There was this cute girl with him?" Reno suggested, at Tseng's look he completely changed his tone. "But she summoned a freaking dragon on me!"

"A dragon? You mean Bahamunt?"

"That's the one, it kicked my ass."

"Hmm… now my first instinct would be to disbelieve you as the summon in question is one of a kind materia, very difficult to master without risking a grinding session on movers, which is a lethal occupation, and is currently in the possesion of one Zachary Fair. Soldier 1st class. He has been stuck in his office all day but there may be different strains of the summon, like how a legend can be interperated differently…"

"So can we go now?"

"While taking a flare attack to the face would explain some of your injuries, it would not account for all of them, and since Rude does not have any burn marks he would explain himself for a change."

"Swordswoman, possibly on par with Soldier's best skill wise. Only had one eye though but could cast her own magic." Tseng gave an unspoken thank you to Rude, he always was one to get to the point and give the facts.

"What a trio, a tailed thief with the ability to inbuse an unkown status effect, a girl with the power to summon and now a swordswoman with yet more magic. You two are ordered to stand into an observational role until we can fully determine what we are in fact dealing with. Until then Reno you will have to pay the science department a visit. See if we can specify what summon it was exactly that defeated you. Dismissed." The two assassins (known collectively among Turk circles as the odd couple) left fairly urgently and shut the door behind them.

"Phew, I was expecting to be shot right there. Guess the guy with the stick up his ass was being generous."

"I can still hear you Reno." Tseng said dryly

"_Hi. You've reached the phone of Zack Fair, 1st class. If your asking about the fan club, I don't want to know and am considering restraining order. Otherwise leave your message after the beep." _Zack's answering machine said in a trademark voice that was up-beat enough to only have belonged to him. There was no missons since he'd returned to Midgar from the Corel Valley, so where was he?

--

**A short one I know, but I think some of you might be able to guess where I'm going with this. Being that I seem to be following the "Half-Life 2" formula. If you know what that means, you are almost as big of a nerd as me.**

**(Sniff) **


	11. 11, Dead men tell no tales

**Dead Men Tell No Tales**

**Holy crud this fic still exists! I'd nearly forgotten all about it. Now one issue I've had with this is that I've been focussing way to much on the FFVII aspect and not enough on FFIX. For some reason, they're harder to write for some reason.**

**Right, I own nothing from wither game although I have recently defeated Ozma**

**HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW YOU SWIRLING BEACHBALL OF GAME OVERS?**

**--**

Maybe the past two confrontations were starting to get to him a bit, the niggling little thought of what would have happened if Dagger hadn't summoned. Would he have gone into trance? What good would it have done? That man in the blue suit, Reno, still held her, weapon crackling. He could have hit her, he could have _hurt _her.

He shuddered at the thought.

"_Am I interrupting something or are you alone?" _Zidane heard, snapping sharply upright.

"Whose there?"

"_No-one, not in the physical sense to be specific."_

"Ku-" He realised who was speaking

"_Ssshh! Keep it down will you! You're the only one who can hear this and I'd prefer if you were the only one who knew of my presence." _His brother and former villain told him.

"Why?"

"_I can read your mind if you think clearly enough, just don't wake anyone up."_

_How are you speaking to me, aren't you dead?_

"_That's precisely why I can speak to you. I'm a soul from a destroyed planet, I don't belong to any particular soul cycle so I can just, hop between worlds for a time. I'm strongest back on her world because that's where I lived for a good amount of time, left my impression on the world. I can talk to you because you're imbued with the power of Terra, in a similar fashion to which that Aerith girl is imbued with this world's power, only much stronger so you can hear the specifics of each soul."_

_In Gaian?_

"_You can hear and see dead genomes if they want to talk to you, end of that discussion."_

_Right… So why are you contacting me here?_

"_Because you're probably wanting to know why you're here and I've only just figured it out."_

_So?_

"_Remember how Terra and Gaia were linked? So was this world and Gaia. Only difference was that this link was a lot more temperamental. A distress call from a Terran experiment probably caused the link to reactivate for a brief moment and you three just happened to be standing where the link was made."_

_Alexandria? There was a portal to this world in Alexandria?_

"_More specifically Alexander, the holy Eidolon. You know, the one I kind of…" _He drifted off, not wanting to remind Zidane too much of the past, he had tried to put all that behind him after his first year since his repentance and death in the Iifa tree.

_I remember._

"_Well, the point is the Royal chambers were directly under the portal and since it was a Terran operand that activated it, that's why it pulled you specifically, but also anyone who was in the vicinity."_ Zidane tried to cast his mind back, thinking what was going on when they were first transported_ "Whoa! I said think clearly, I did _not_ need to see that. What you do to your little princess or what she does to you is not my business."_

_Me and Dagger I can understand but Beatrix… she must have been on guard then, that's why she got sucked in with us._

"_Ah, now we're getting somewhere."_

_But what activated it? Could it take us back?"_

"_Possibly, like I said, the link is driven by the similarities; it was opened wider when the Iifa tree was active in my life time, the past 25 years."_

_When you mean Terran experiment… do you mean someone like us?_

"_Not entirely."_

_Kuja… what are you hiding?_

"_Look, while I was still alive and you were on Terra, Garland tried to create a creature that would replace both the Iifa system as a cycle corrupter and be self maintaining, able to possess people with influence or even remove those connected to the planet. It had problems, the first being although it removed a planets life stream fairly effectively it didn't create any mist to send the world insane and ramp up the killings, speeding the whole process up instead it just fed on the souls and didn't produce a useful bi-product. Secondly it didn't add in the souls of Terra converting the planet, it just destroyed it. So we launched it through a time hole and it would up here approximately two thousand years ago."_

_And only now it sent out a distress call?_

"_Actually it sent out that call as soon as it was reactivated by someone, like I said it had flaws. I can sense it all around this planet but with highest concentrations in 3 places, where you are now, one place to the south and another to the far west. If you can find it, perhaps you could reactivate the link."_

_So what is it?_

"_Excuse me?"_ Kuja stumbled slightly.

_This Terran experiment, you told me what it was made for and what it does but not what it is. I don't even have a name yet._

"…"

_Kuja?_

"…_It looks like your princess may be waking up I'll contact you soon, bye!"_

_Kuja!_

"Zidane? Are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, just lost in thought."

_Kuja… what do you know?_

"…"

_I know your still there._

"…"

_Well if your not here…_ Zidane shifted back into the bed, snuggling under the covers, allowing Garnet to grab hold of him, like a security blanket only…

"_OH GOD THE IMAGES, THEY BURN!"_

_Gonna talk now?_

"_fine, just no more, I do not need to see 'family' in such positions, although you were doing number 43 all wrong, just saying. The experiments name…we called it Jenova."_

--

**Before anyone asks, yes I did have this planned since the beginning, I also have the bare ideas of how the ending is going to work, its just getting there is the tough bit.**


	12. Chapter 12, Dragon Spotting

**Dragon Spotting**

**This story is well overdue for an update, this one and everything else. Don't shoot!**

**Also a 2 month overdue happy birthday to this fic, hurray!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**--**

It wasn't exactly the worst thing that could happen to Reno. Sure there are a lot of things higher on the thing list, most of them involving a woman and the top involving certain items along with a particular kind of woman, but the labs weren't exactly the worst place for a Turk. They managed to dodge most of the testing and the few that did get the SOLDIER treatment were given a bit more lax restraints over booster shots. It comes with the job of being able to kill legally anyone coming at you with a sharp instrument that really lightens the atmosphere when going for injections.

Still there aren't that many things worse than an appointment with one scientist in particular. One who if you stabbed in the back would probably take the time to take it out, stab _you_ in the back to see if it generated the same effect, then die. A lot of people _really_ hated Hojo.

"I received the information from your superior; he says you saw a strain of _draconis sapient_. A rare sight indeed, a shame it turned… aggressive, it could have been a landmark discovery." The scientist mused, sipping on some coffee, not even paying much attention to Reno.

"Because a smart dragon wanted me for lunch?" He asked, before clasping his hand over his mouth. The sooner he was out of here the better, and questions wouldn't get them out of here.

"Although the materia that calls Bahamut is in the hands of SOLDIER, a pity, such a rare gem needs to be fully analysed instead of giving me the job of creating a sub-standard copy for use in training, this is a peculiar summon. It seems to have multiple strains, unlike Shiva and Ifrit. That 1st class Zack Fair has two of them, Bahamut Fury and the original form. So it is more than likely more versions exist, most slight variations on existing ones but some that look unique compared to the others."

"Okay, thanks for the support doc, can I go now?"

"Not yet, this strain must be catalogued, I'll need a description."

"Uh… big?" Reno gestured, it was difficult to describe it when half the time you were shitting your pants because of it, the other half being toasted alive.

"I see this is going no-where, take a seat." Hojo sighed, pointing towards a chair. It looked like one of those Dentist chairs, the ones that lift up and lean back…

"Hey! What the hell man?" Reno shouted as it started to do just that, combined with wrapping steel restraints around his wrists so he couldn't move.

"Initiate scan, compare with all images of known Bahaumut strains." He told the computer as a pair of needles lowered themselves directly lever with Reno's eyes. "Keep your eyes open for Ancient's sake. The scan won't work otherwise."

"Scan?"

"Yes, why did you feel the need to repeat that? It's not like it will help anyone understand what it does." He said pressing a button as the needles started to glow green, they did just what he said, they were scanning his eyeball, a green line going up and down, transferring any data found at the back of the eye or whatever onto his machine. "Interesting, cease scan," he said. The needle lasers stopped and were brought up, the chair was lowered and the restraints were released on command "now Reno, does this look familiar to you?" He asked showing the Turk a picture of what the scanner had picked up. It was definitely the dragon he fought. Right down to the slight smirk.

"Yeah. That's the thing. But how did you…"

"I'm not explaining how my machine works, it'll only confuse you."

"Yeah… thanks." He grumbled, half annoyed that he'd been insulted, half glad he'd missed a lecture.

"So a more natural breed, closer to a regular dragon yet powerful enough to be classed as a dragon. I expect the wings are to give it higher agility than most. Did you get a glimpse of the materia used? It would be excellent if we could obtain a summon material for the labs. They are not easily acquired I'll have you know."

"No… didn't se anything. No materia or nothing on any of them."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, can I please go now?"

"Fine, fine, be off with you… magic without materia... only one person I know personally could perform that at will, so could the rest of her… but that would mean... perfection. I will have an Ancient in these labs after all, quite a powerful one on top of that."

--

It was early in the morning, or possibly in the afternoon. Something about never seeing the sky anymore tends to mess with a person's sense of timing, with only the glow of the artificial lights to go by and all. Still, he hadn't gotten a good nights sleep, thinking about what Kuja had said. Terran project? Jenova? He knew they were in trouble just for being here but now its down to some Iifa tree prototype.

"Zidane?" He heard Dagger say, pushing him on the shoulder, trying to roll him out of bed. She of course didn't have much trouble sleeping at night _Insert sexual pun… here._

"Yeah?" He said, eyes not ready to open just yet, even if they were to greet what is to him one of the best sights in any of the worlds.

"I think you need to get dressed now." She told him.

"Why?"

"Because Aerith has a guest coming around and I don't think he particularly want to see you in your underwear, or without them."

"Well some guys might…" Zidane joked before remembering what had happened a few nights before setting off for Alexandria the first time. The special that day had been extra strong or something and he woke up in a bed with 3 women and one guy, who was right next to him.

"Besides that right is reserved for me. Now get dressed."

"Fine, just these clothes aren't exactly the most comfortable things in the world, they're worse than the tights you made me wear that one time."

"I'll help you out of them afterwards if you want to." She said seductively before leaving and closing the door behind her.

"Shouldn't I be the one to say that?" he asked, about one minute afterwards "Oh." He mumbled, realising that she'd gone back to talk to Aerith. Somehow those two had really connected at some level; she said she had always felt different to the others in this city and now she had other people who also felt like fishes out of water in this scrap metal jungle. _Now what did she say about a boyfriend? I know he was in the military or something like that._ Zidane thought to himself, struggling into the tight jeans, not a lot of room in them but they'll do. Deciding to look out of the window he saw someone all to familiar approaching with a bouquet of flowers.

The same person he robbed and escaped from. Zack Fair. _Damn it, are every one of my little trips going to come back to bite me in the ass this week?_

--

**Its been a long time coming I know but its here! Celebrate the fact I have not left the Final Fantasy fandoms for greener pastures. Just I haven't played the games for a while, no PS2 at university you understand.**


End file.
